Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

Photo and video available here 

An underwater robot has set a new record for the world’s deepest protest after revealing a banner saying ‘LISTEN TO THE SCIENCE!’ 1.4 miles (2.3 km) below the surface. The feat was achieved during a Greenpeace scientific survey of vulnerable and unexplored deep-sea ecosystems between Iceland and Svalbard.

The banner was submerged to 2,315 metres below sea level by the expedition’s remotely operated vehicle ‘ROV Holly’ and held up in front of a hydrothermal vent field known as ‘Loki’s Castle’, located along the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge.

The Arctic is one of the most rapidly changing regions on Earth due to climate change, and faces a direct threat from the prospect of deep-sea mining. Greenpeace is warning that these unique ‘biodiversity hotspots’ are at risk of irreversible disruption.

Dr. Sandra Schöttner, chief scientist for the Deep Arctic Expedition at Greenpeace International, said: “This marks the deepest banner protest in history, to speak for ecosystems that have no voice of their own. World leaders have already promised to protect 30 percent of the oceans, now they must listen to the science and actually do it. We cannot meet our global goals if we also allow industrial exploitation of unexplored and vulnerable ecosystems in the deep sea. It is high time that leaders keep their promises and give the oceans a chance to recover.”

Loki’s Castle is a unique volcanic ecosystem containing active chimneys that spew out fluid from deep within the ocean crust at temperatures of up to 320°C. Scientists describe it as a “cradle” of complex life that could hold the key to how life on Earth once started. Our own distant ancestors may have looked just like the microbes living on the geological structures in Loki’s Castle.

“By safeguarding these deep-sea ecosystems within a global network of ocean sanctuaries and establishing a moratorium on deep sea mining, we can create a resilient safety net for marine life, and protect the health of our global oceans for generations to come”, Dr. Sandra Schöttner added.

Greenpeace’s Deep Arctic Expedition brings together world-leading scientists to explore Arctic seamounts and hydrothermal vent fields – all while ‘divestreaming’ the science from the Arctic seabed on YouTube. [1] The area was opened for deep sea mining by the Norwegian government in 2024, but the plans were halted last year after protests from environmental organisations, fishermen, scientists and the green opposition parties in Norway.[2] 

Deep sea mining would, according to many scientists, cause irreversible damage to vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems, including the destruction of habitats, and possibly the extinction of some species.

Greenpeace is calling on world leaders to honour global climate targets, implement the UN Ocean Treaty to protect 30% of the global ocean by 2030, and establish an immediate moratorium on deep-sea mining.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Photos and videos of the protest are available here. 

A full selection of the photos, video and maps from Greenpeace’s Arctic Deep expedition are in the Greenpeace Media Library 

Join the Arctic expedition WhatsApp channel for updates and divestream notifications. Watch the divestreams on YouTube

Read more about the expedition here 

Notes:

[1] Greenpeace International, Greenpeace Germany and Greenpeace Nordic are leading the Deep Arctic Expedition from 8 May–5 June 2026.

[2] Deep-sea mining: Norway halts controversial practice until 2029 (Euronews) 

Contact:

Source: Amnesty International –

Malaiyaha Tamils working on private tea estates and smallholdings in Sri Lanka are being subjected to abuses that meet many of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) indicators of forced labour, while being denied access to the country’s strict labour protections, Amnesty International said in a new report.

The research, which documents the plight of workers in Sri Lanka’s Southern Province, found that members of the marginalized Malaiyaha Tamil community suffered multiple and widespread forms of abuse including intimidation and threats, physical violence and harassment, debt bondage, restrictions on movement, and poor working and living conditions.

The report found that, in addition to its failure to address these labour abuses, the state is failing in its duty to ensure workers’ rights to social security, unionization, and access to justice. As an ILO member and party to 44 of its conventions, as well as UN human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Sri Lanka is obliged to ensure that workers are protected from discrimination and labour and human rights abuses.

“Private tea estates in Sri Lanka are systematically violating labour laws in their treatment of Malaiyaha Tamil workers with no accountability. Across the sites we visited, workers reported a consistent pattern of discrimination and abuse, including violence, debt bondage, withheld wages, and poor living and working conditions, raising serious concerns about forced labour. The persistence of these abuses despite existing legal safeguards reflects a serious failure of the state to enforce labour protections and safeguard workers’ rights,” said Smriti Singh, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for South Asia.

Private tea estates in Sri Lanka are systematically violating labour laws in their treatment of Malaiyaha Tamil workers

Smriti Singh, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for South Asia

“Sri Lanka’s obligation to eradicate the use of forced labour is clear – both under domestic and international law including as a member of the ILO. The authorities must urgently prioritize inspecting these estates to determine the extent of labour rights abuses. This should be followed by thorough investigations, prosecutions of those responsible and meaningful remedies for workers.”

The report is based on research conducted by Amnesty International between January 2024 and January 2026. Amnesty International visited 45 estates in Galle and Matara districts in the Southern part of Sri Lanka and conducted 159 interviews with workers along with interviews of two estate managers and three supervisors. Fifteen focus group discussions were also held with 65 workers.

Longstanding concerns over forced labour and other abuses continue

Malaiyaha Tamils – descendants from workers brought to Sri Lanka from the southern part of India by British colonizers in the early 19th century to work on tea plantations – have long experienced systemic and structural racial discrimination and exclusion, which have made them vulnerable to forced labour. 

To date, they are heavily dependent on their employers for their livelihoods, accommodation and welfare, which leaves them unable to challenge poor living and working conditions and labour law abuses.

On all 45 estates visited, workers said that they relied on their employer for housing and lived in fear of forced eviction.

Workers on 15 estates told Amnesty International that they had been subjected to or had witnessed verbal and/or physical abuse by estate managers for being late for work, enquiring about unpaid salary and other issues.

One worker said: “If you don’t work [and meet the targets], they tend to beat you… They’ll hit with their hands and legs, and with sticks. They’ve hit some people so badly you can’t bear to look. It’s still happening.”

The research found that estate managers often cited spurious reasons for withholding pay based often on unrealistic targets, forcing workers to rely on wage advances and loans to meet basic needs, putting them in even more debt.

Out of the 45 estates visited, 27 reportedly demanded that workers pick over 25kg of tea per day. Failure to meet these unrealistic targets would result in wages of as little as LKR 1,000 (US$3.10) per day, being docked or delayed.

One worker, Subramaniam, said: “If we do not finish the assigned work, they count three days of work as one day’s work. If we finish the work, they pay LKR 1,000 (US$3.10).”

Such tactics result in a cycle of increasing debt to estate owners that may amount to debt bondage – a form of forced labour that can result in workers being tied to employers across generations.

Workers on at least 22 estates described restrictions on their freedom of movement, including curfews and requiring approval to travel. Their living conditions also failed to meet key elements constituting the right to adequate housing, including lack of security of tenure, sufficient space and adequate sanitation.

Labour protections denied

These abuses are compounded by the fact that that the labour protections enshrined in domestic laware not being enforced by the state and cannot be accessed by Malaiyaha Tamil tea estate workers.

The exploitation of Malaiyaha Tamil workers is being enabled by entrenched discrimination, extreme marginalization, and systematic mischaracterization of their status

Smriti Singh

Employers on private estates and smallholdings exploitatively misclassify Malaiyaha Tamil workers as “casual workers”, denying them all labour-related legal entitlements and basic statutory benefits. Few receive maternity benefits, pension and sickness leave. 

Malaiyaha Tamil workers face challenges to accessing justice, particularly remedies for abuses and poor working conditions. These include a language gap as state authorities that could offer protection do not typically speak Malaiyaha Tamil, discriminatory treatment by state officials, and lack access to employment documentation. Trade union representation is often entirely absent or prohibited by their employers – the estates visited during the research did not have unions operating.

The research also found significant failings in labour inspections and enforcement of employment standards at tea estates in the Matara and Galle districts. 

“The exploitation of Malaiyaha Tamil workers is being enabled by entrenched discrimination, extreme marginalization, and systematic mischaracterization of their status that deprives them of the protection of the law,” said Smriti Singh. “We urge the authorities to fully enforce the law, dismantle the barriers preventing the Malaiyaha Tamil community from accessing their rights, and strengthen labour protections and accountability across private tea estates.”

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

SYDNEY, Wednesday 27 May 2026 — A new report from Greenpeace Australia Pacific and independent expert Ketan Joshi reveals how the frenzied rollout of AI data centres in Australia is set to derail the renewable energy transition, entrench gas and turbocharge climate pollution, prompting calls for an urgent moratorium on data centre approvals until appropriate guardrails are in place. 

The report, Energy Vampires: the AI data centres draining Australia, reveals the staggering scale of data centre growth in Australia, set to follow a US path of emissions blowout and rising community opposition to the resource-hungry facilities. The report exposes the links between the data centre lobby and the gas industry, who are using data centre growth to justify extracting more gas. 

Greenpeace Australia Pacific is calling on the Federal Government to urgently implement a moratorium on the construction and approval of new data centres, until appropriate regulations and safeguards have been put in place to protect the climate and communities.

Key findings: 

• Data centres are already failing to cover their own demand with additional renewable energy, and resisting calls to mandate that they do.
• At its peak, Australia’s biggest proposed data centre, the 1GW Mamre Road Data Centre Campus in Western Sydney, will generate annual emissions equivalent to 560,000 petrol cars, or all domestic flights within NSW in 2023.
• There are early signs of a data centre-fuelled gas boom in Australia, including proposals for new on-site gas, as seen in the US. 
• Cloud Carrier’s proposed gas-fired data centre in NSW would wipe out the state’s entire projected 2028 emissions cuts.
• Even if only 1 in 4 new Australian data centres were powered by new on-site gas, it would result in 2.8x higher total emissions compared to using grid power.

Joe Rafalowicz, Head of Climate and Energy at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “Australia is completely unprepared for the magnitude of impacts of the AI-driven data centre frenzy. Data centres are being rolled out at a feverish pace, with some of the largest planned for Australia consuming as much energy as Adelaide. The recent federal and state energy minister communique is a positive first step towards regulating the data centre industry, and managing its impact on the energy transition and the communities where they’re being built. 

“But we should all be concerned by the extreme lack of scrutiny being applied to the companies leading the data centre charge in Australia and their proposals. Without strong, legislated standards, we risk replicating the disastrous US pattern, where Big Tech corporations have carte blanche to drain energy and water, and build new, polluting gas and diesel-powered plants to fuel their operations. This has seen mounting community opposition that transcends party politics, something we’re beginning to see here in Australia.

“Greenpeace is calling for a moratorium on new data centre approvals and construction until we have clearly defined, enforceable regulations and standards in place to govern this industry — essential if we hope to avoid the alarming outcomes outlined in this report. 

“Australia is not a playground for Big Tech corporations. It is time our leaders stepped up and took seriously their role as custodians of our resources and protectors of our society and environment.”

Ketan Joshi, independent report author and climate expert said: “Impatience is not a virtue. The reckless data centre buildout is heaping massive new load onto the grid, meaning renewables have to run harder just to stay in the same spot. Currently data centres increase coal and gas output and delay shutdowns, while plugging polluting gas into data centres does the damage directly instead. 

“Unless the data centre industry builds no new fossil fuels and far more new renewables than new demand, we end up worse off. Australia’s gas industry sees a lifeline in an unchecked data centre frenzy, and the feeling seems to be mutual. 

“Data centre demand projections keep jabbing upwards each revision, and emissions projections keep getting worse. Everywhere in the world facing this frenzy sees the same trend.

“Data centre moratoria have bipartisan support in countries around the world as the only path to reintroducing careful, considered governance of data centre growth. In the context of an irrational, unjustified panic, a temporary pause brings reason and rationality, along with bringing power to communities.”

-ENDS-

Images and an interview clipreel of Greenpeace spokespeople at the Mamre Road data centre in Western Sydney available here. 

Media contacts:

Lucy Keller on 0491 135 308 or [email protected] 
Kate O’Callaghan on 0406 231 892 or [email protected]

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

The cutting of mature trees in Manila to give way to the Southern Access Link Expressway (SALEx) forces us to ask a basic but often avoided question: development for whom?

For a long time, development has been shaped by a modernist imagination. Progress is measured by what is new, large, fast, and concrete. A new road becomes a sign of advancement. A new expressway becomes proof that the city is “moving forward.” In this view, trees are seen as obstacles. Old neighborhoods as inefficient spaces. Public resistance as something that delays progress. The future is imagined as something built over the present, even when the present already carries the memory and protection that people need.

This modernist imagination also carries a colonial logic. It treats land as something to be cleared, nature as something to be controlled, and local ways of living as things that must adjust to projects designed in the language of growth. The city is made to look modern by becoming more hostile to the people who actually live in it. What is rooted and familiar is treated as disposable because it does not fit the image of progress inherited from Western and colonial models of development.

The problem with this framework is that it treats economic movement as the main measure of success. If a project promises faster travel, greater connectivity, or higher returns, other concerns are pushed aside. The loss of trees becomes tolerable. The loss of public space becomes acceptable. Cultural memory becomes easy to ignore because it does not fit neatly into cost-benefit calculations. Meanwhile, the everyday lives of people who walk, commute, or work under the sun are treated as secondary to the movement of cars and capital.

But development cannot be reduced to infrastructure. A city does not become developed just because it has more elevated roads. A city becomes livable when people can move safely, breathe clean air, find shade, gather in public spaces, remember their histories, and survive worsening climate impacts. When mature trees are cut in a city already suffering from extreme heat, flooding, air pollution, and shrinking green spaces, the issue, in fact, becomes a development failure.

The tree-cutting in Manila also shows how unequal power shapes the meaning of progress. Corporate-led infrastructure can be framed as a public benefit, while its costs are quietly transferred to ordinary Filipinos. Billionaire corporations get to expand their infrastructure footprint. Government agencies get to claim procedural compliance. The city, meanwhile, loses part of its environmental and cultural landscape. Future generations inherit a hotter and less resilient Manila.

Social, cultural, and environmental costs cannot be treated as side notes to economic growth. They are central to whether a project truly serves people. A project that makes a city more vulnerable to heat and flooding should not be celebrated as progress. A project that erases spaces of memory and deepens inequality should be questioned.

The rage over the Quirino Avenue trees is not mere nostalgia. It is a demand to question who benefits when mature trees are sacrificed in the name of development and who is left to live with the consequences. Filipinos know that a city stripped of memory and ecological protection is not moving forward. It is being pushed hundreds of steps back—617 steps back to be exact—in making Manila less livable.

Real development should protect life. Anything less is just destruction with a project name.

###

Eunille Santos is part of the communications team of Greenpeace Philippines. He is currently finishing his master’s degree in development communication at the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

Source: Amnesty International –

Responding to the charges brought against detained Ekattor Television journalists Farzana Rupa and Mozammel Haque by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), reportedly in relation to a ‘misleading’ report on the deadly crackdown on protesters at the Shapla Square in May 2013, Smriti Singh, South Asia Regional Director of Amnesty International said:

“Freedom of expression extends to information which some may find offensive, shocking or disturbing. Respect for this right is essential to ensuring healthy public discourse in a rights respecting society. Journalists must not be targeted for opinions which are disagreeable, or their perceived links to political parties.

“Farzana Rupa and Mozammel Haque, who are already in detention, now face vague new charges relating to a story that was aired more than a decade ago. Their arrest in a case related to crimes against humanity is an afront to fundamental principles of press freedom and sets a dangerous precedent that threatens the right of all journalists to report without fear of retaliation.

Their arrest in a case related to crimes against humanity is an afront to fundamental principles of press freedom

Smriti Singh, South Asia Regional Director of Amnesty International

“Moreover, the Tribunal has been blighted by serious fair trial and due process concerns, as well as for meting out the death penalty, which Amnesty International opposes in all cases.

“Bangladeshi authorities must drop all charges against them related to their work as journalists and ensure the respect and protection of the right to freedom of expression including media freedom, in line with their international human rights obligations.”

Background

Farzana Rupa is Ekattor Television’s chief reporter and Mozammel Haque is its managing director. According to media reports, the charges against the two, brought on 7 March, relate to their reporting of the deadly crackdown during the Saphala Square protests in May 2013 on members of Hefazat-e-Islam, a conservative religious movement in Bangladesh. Media reports stated the prosecutor alleged the TV channel aired a ‘misleading’ report, implying there were no casualties, to distract the public from the actual death toll.

On 5 May 2013, approximately 200,000 Hefazaat protesters were met with brutal repression by security forces. The Shapla Square death toll has long been contested. Both journalists were already in pretrial detention on charges relating to the 2024 July protests. Farzana Rupa has been in pretrial detention since August 2024 and faces nine murder charges. Mozammel Haque has been in pretrial detention since September 2024 and faces five charges – four for murder and one for extortion. All of the murder cases contain multiple accused named in the First Information Report (FIR), with some cases having over 200 alleged perpetrators.

Source: Amnesty International –

In the occupied Gaza Strip, Palestinian healthcare workers have been facing unprecedented dangers, with many detained under conditions that violate international humanitarian law. Amnesty International continues to document these systemic abuses, including Israel’s widespread use of torture and other ill-treatment against Palestinian detainees, while demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained. Below, Dr. Ahmad Mhanna, former director of Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, shares his harrowing testimony of survival.

At around 4 pm on 16 December 2023, the Israeli military raided Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia refugee camp. They handcuffed and blindfolded me before taking me to a house a short distance away while I was still wearing my surgical scrubs. I was left on a stairwell overnight, restrained the entire time.

At no point did the soldiers question me. In the middle of the night, the building began shaking violently from the sound of a nearby bulldozer. The dust was stifling, and I feared the house would collapse on me before the machine finally moved away.

By 8 am the following day, they had removed my restraints. A soldier ordered me back to the hospital, threatening: “If you refuse to cooperate, the gun will speak.” I told him we had nothing to hide; my priority was the safety of my patients.

We underwent the tashrifa (reception)—a ritual of beatings and humiliation where boiling water was thrown on us.

Dr. Ahmad Mhanna

I was forced to provide a list of everyone in the facility and to call out the names of all males between 16 and 60 for interrogation. They were ordered to strip down to their underwear in the extreme cold. Among those arrested was a patient with an amputated leg and several of my colleagues. Just when I thought it was over, a soldier gestured to me and said: “My colleagues in Tel Aviv want to have a drink with you.” I knew then I was being arrested indefinitely.

Source: Chatham House –

UK should not invest in new North Sea oil as it is ‘a price taker, not a price maker’ – Dr Fatih Birol, IEA chief 
News release
jon.wallace
21 May 2026

During an event at Chatham House, Dr Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, said the future of UK energy was electrification.

Dr Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, visited Chatham House on 21 May to discuss the continuing Strait of Hormuz crisis, US energy policy, the global impact of renewable energy and artificial intelligence, and the UK’s own energy security debate.

Asked his position on the UK’s energy policy, Dr Birol said ‘the future of the UK energy system is electrification’, which might be powered by renewables, nuclear energy and natural gas. ‘If the UK wants to be a strong, sovereign industrial country I see electrification as the future,’ he said.

Addressing the debate about renewed drilling in the North Sea, Dr Birol said it would be expensive, adding: 

‘I don’t still understand how in the UK this becomes a discussion’. He pointed out that even in the US, the largest energy exporter in the world, consumers are still affected by the international oil price, so new North Sea exploration would not affect global oil prices – or reduce prices for UK consumers.

‘I don’t know how the UK can think you can have an impact upon the international oil prices, you cannot. The UK – whatever the field you produce, develop – the UK is a price taker, not a price maker, and it will stay like this.’

He also warned that opportunists may seek to exploit high global oil prices caused by international factors for domestic political reasons:

‘What I’m afraid [of] is the following: the international energy prices, as a result of this, they are going to increase. And they are increasing. And this will affect the domestic prices in the petrol stations, in heating, and so on.

‘In fact, the governments in, let’s say, Europe or UK, or whatever, they don’t have much to do with this, it’s international tension.

‘However there may be some extreme groups – political groups – who can abuse this as a failure of the existing political system in their countries,’ he said.

Addressing the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, Dr Birol said trust in supply from the region had been damaged – ‘the vase is broken’, he said – and that huge efforts would be needed to restore it.